Kansas City Royals: What to expect in the 2019 MLB Draft

How pivotal of a draft is this for the Royals’ current rebuild?

In my view, each draft is of critical importance, especially for rebuilding small market teams. I’d say last year’s draft for the Royals was a bit more pivotal than this one, given they had four picks in the first 40.

Even though the Royals don’t have as many picks this year, their draft pool ($13,108,000) is the third highest in the MLB, providing an opportunity to make a big splash. Teams don’t need to find a Mike Trout in every draft, but you need to find major leaguers. A few poor drafts in a row can set a team back for the better half of a decade.

Last year, the Royals took five college pitchers with their first five selections, all in the top 60 picks of the draft. What do you think the team’s strategy will be at this year’s draft?

Ultimately, I think each team has the strategy of taking the best player on their board with each pick. Now for the Royals, who used their first five picks on college pitchers and their first 11 picks on college players in general last year, they obviously prioritized that type of profile when organizing their board. There is a presumption that college players represent lower risk than high school players, and that’s fine. And there is plenty if upside in the guys they did take last year.

I don’t have any direct knowledge of what the Royals will do, but if it were me, I’d diversify my risk profile a bit. After loading up on college talent last season, I’d take some higher upside high school kids early. That’s easy for me to say because my job doesn’t depend on those players blossoming into major leaguers. If it works out, you look really smart. If you fail, you’re fired.